A passenger airplane making an emergency landing crashed in northwest Nepal Friday, killing the two pilots and injuring nine passengers. It’s the second fatal accident in two days in Nepal, where a Twin Otter operating for Tara Air crashed minutes after takeoff Wednesday, killing all 23 on board. Friday’s crash involved an Air Kasthamandap aircraft, the Kathmandu Post reported. The single-engine airplane wasn’t identified in news reports, but the company’s website advertises a fleet of PAC P-750 XSTOL turboprops.
The flight departed Nepalgunj airport in western Nepal at 12:16 p.m. local time, heading north to the town of Jumla. Witnesses said the aircraft was in a nose-down descent, the Post reported. Police and army crews went to the site and injured passengers were airlifted to Nepalgunj. Both of the crashes this week involved companies specializing in service to small airports around the mountainous region. Nepal’s aviation authority has been under pressure to improve its safety record; airlines based in the countryhave been banned from operating in the European Union nations since 2013. At the end of 2015, the EU said it will continue the ban until it seesimprovements to safety standards as outlined by ICAO, according to a December report in The Himalayan Times.
